


Multiples of Seven

by JjdoggieS



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: But like later, Cute, Domestic, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Fluff, This started as a crack idea, a little hurt/comfort, and i think i'm funny, angsty, but - Freeform, but like teen angst, from me, i forgot that tag, it is 35 steps because 5 x 7 is 35, love you tori, now it is, on discord, this is for tori, whoops
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-16
Updated: 2021-02-27
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:07:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 4,958
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27596635
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JjdoggieS/pseuds/JjdoggieS
Summary: Apparently, all it took for Five to realize how much he wanted, and needed, Vanya in his life, was for him to get stuck in the Apocalypse. Butthatis not going to be enough to keep Five from getting back to her.----Five's far too long plan to make Vanya his, that started all because he got stuck in the Apocalypse.
Relationships: Number Five | The Boy/Vanya Hargreeves
Comments: 13
Kudos: 95





	1. Step 1 - Stay Alive

**Author's Note:**

  * For [fiveyaaas](https://archiveofourown.org/users/fiveyaaas/gifts).



> Look guys, this one is also for tori because I love her a lot. And she wanted this. And this is yet another one of our 3 fic exchange.

The second he arrived in the wasteland of the end of the world, The Apocalypse, Five  _ knew _ he had to figure out a way back. He  _ needed _ to get back. He needed to get back to her.

Five needed to get back to Vanya.

In order to get back, get back to Vanya, Five needed to get a plan. And on a scrap piece of paper he’d found in the apocalypse, Five wrote his simple, three step plan to get back to Vanya.

Step One: Survive in the apocalypse   
Step Two: Figure out the proper equation to return  
Step Three: Return to Vanya

Of course, it was far easier to just  _ say _ he needed to survive in the Apocalypse, it was a whole other thing to  _ actually _ survive in the Apocalypse. Five figured the first thing he’d need to do was find, or build, a sufficient home base of sorts for his time in the Apocalypse.

He had, of course, tried to use the equation he’d used to jump forward in time to jump backward in time. But after  _ several _ failed attempts, Five accepted that he’d need to make, test, and use a possibly entirely different equation in order to travel backward through time.

Within a day of surveying and inspecting various locations of his new, and temporary, surroundings, Five decided he’d set up in the ruins of the Argyle Library. The still standing walls, or parts of them, most definitely helped him pick that location over another. While in his new, and, again, temporary, home base, Five looked over the titles of the surviving books from whatever caused the Apocalypse, and when he saw the last name ‘Hargreeves’ printed on the spine, he absolutely did a double take.

Five carefully pulled the book from the barely still standing shelves, expecting for the author to be someone not from his family, but was a distant relative maybe of Dad, and was using the last name to get more attention. But when the book slid into his fingers, he was completely surprised, shocked even, when he was met with Vanya’s face gracing the cover, looking rather forlorn.

He flipped the book over, finding yet another surprise with an adult Vanya, looking sad, empty, and lonely; not like how  _ his _ Vanya acted. When he looked at the cover again, reading the title of her book ‘Extraordinary: My Life As Number Seven’ he carefully put the book into his wagon of scavenged supplies, telling himself that he’d read it later. His priority now was to get enough supplies, set up a home base, and stay alive. Because he needed to get back.

He  _ needed _ to get back to Vanya.


	2. Step 2 - Stay Sane

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Five's plan to get out of the Apocalypse, and back to Vanya, might take a little longer than he'd expected.

Apparently, getting back to Vanya wasn’t as easy as Five had first expected it to be. 

There were many failed attempts of jumping back in time and wiped away incorrect and ineffective equations. More than Five would ever like to admit. It wasn’t like he thought it would be  _ easy _ to bend the fabric of time to his will, but he didn’t think it was going to be  _ this _ hard to go backwards.

Five, as much as it felt like a betrayal to do so, made an amendment to his plan. Two in fact. He, of course, had to add another step between surviving the apocalypse and figuring out the proper equation to return, which was to maintain his sanity. He’d be utterly useless if he lost his mind in this wasteland.

Step One: Survive in the apocalypse  
Step Two: Don’t lose your mind   
Step  ~~ Two  ~~ Three: Figure out the proper equation to return  
Step  ~~ Three  ~~ Four: Return to Vanya

There had already been an instance or two, or seven, of him hearing things. Movement. Breathing. His name. Footsteps. Voices. Vanya’s voice calling for him. Five needed someone, needed Vanya, to keep him rooted and sane. The longer he was in this plane of loneliness and destruction, the more it felt like the dust and ruble would be all he’d know until the day he did. Completely, and utterly, alone.

The very first time he’d heard a voice in this wasteland, other than his own of course, was Vanya’s. It was always Vanya’s calling him, begging for him to return, pleading for him to come back, screaming for him to save her from the Academy liked he’d promised her he’d do. When he’d heard her voice again, thinking it was real and not a delusion in his mind, Five chased it. Some part of his mind desperate enough that he hoped she’d managed to live through whatever caused all this destruction just so he wasn’t alone. His chase, of course, came up  _ mostly _ empty.

He didn’t find Vanya. He never found Vanya.

He couldn’t find her when he chased what sounded like her voice, and he didn’t find her body near the others. (Ben’s either, but when he read through her book he learned why pretty quickly.) He sincerely hoped that even though Vanya was ordinary, and that he wasn’t there to protect her, the others would’ve protected her as best they could from whatever caused all this, but evidently, they didn’t.

But, during one of his mostly fruitless endeavors in trying to find Vanya, he found  _ something else _ . He found a companion. What he’d found was the top half of a mannequin, missing one of their arms.

Five, at least as of now, hadn’t lost enough of his sanity to genuinely believe that this mannequin could ever be a sufficient substitute for actual, living people, (much less that it was actually a human being) but he also knew, that it was better to have some _ thing _ to talk to than have nothing at all. Playing into the fantasy that the mannequin before him was a real person, Five thought of possible names he could give to it. The only issue Five kept running into was that none of the names he tried felt right. Some of them were very close, he could feel it, but they weren’t quite right.

One name kept circling back in his mind, but he could never call this  _ mannequin _ by  _ her _ name. The few moments he’d spent seriously contemplating the name, it felt as if he’d betrayed her. Cheated on her with a mannequin. But, a nickname he’d used for  _ her _ before, it worked.

‘You should take a break Five.’ She told him, ‘You’ve been working at your equations for hours.’

“You think I don’t know that!” Five snapped at her, not turning away from the chalkboard he’d been working his current equation on, “I need to get back, and  _ this _ is my way back! I don’t have time to take a break! You know that!”

He waited for a reply. It didn’t come.

Five rubbed a hand to his face, ignoring the sting of accidentally rubbing some chalk dust mingled with dirt in it. “Look,” he started, much calmer and softer than he’d been a moment ago, “I’m sorry. I’m just,  _ stressed  _ right now. I didn’t mean to yell at you Ven.”

He looked over to where he’d carefully placed Ven, picturing Her brown hair and bangs that nearly covered her eyes, and the forgiving little smile that would’ve graced her lips as she replied, ‘I know Five. It’s okay.’

It wasn’t okay. He never snapped at her. But he reminded himself that  _ this _ wasn’t really  _ her _ . And instead took solace in the little smile he pictured on the plastic features, and left his equations to be fixed, solved, and tested for after a little break.


	3. Step 3 - Be Smarter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He's not back quite yet, but achingly close to being so. And a major breakthrough thanks to Ven, brings him one step closer.

After taking a break, or two, from his constant working and reworking of his equations by the suggestion of Ven, Five returned to what he hoped was his final equation. The massive equation of numbers and variables would be overwhelming to most other people, but it made complete sense to him.

He read it, reread it, and read it one more time, making sure every number, variable, and decimal point was in their proper place. And considering his life, his future,  ~~ Vanya’s future ~~ ~~,~~ and his sibling’s lives quite literally depended on it, he had no room for errors. Ven had suggested he try going back in time a few seconds, or minutes, rather than only testing his equation when he did the big jump back to his time.

Taking one last glance at his equation, ensuring he had the correct numbers in his mind, he configured the adjusted equation mentally and scrunched his eyes closed, clenching his fists as they glowed with blue and shook with power. He could picture himself traversing back through time and space, even if it was only just by a few seconds.

As his powers and energy continued to build and build, with his time and place set in his mind, Five felt his powers hit a wall. No matter how much he  _ tried _ and  _ pushed _ for them to go  _ any further _ , they didn’t. Taking a break, not giving up, taking a break, Five looked back over at Ven who, if she  _ wasn’t _ a mannequin, would’ve been smirking at him. “I know, I know. You were right,” Five said, looking over at Ven, “you don’t need to remind me.”

‘I think you’ve made a mistake Five.’ Ven told him, ‘Look over your equation.’ Per her directions, his eyes drifted from Ven’s painted on eyes to the walls of equations behind her. Looking through what he’d determined as his  _ final _ equation, slowly and thoroughly looking through it to find where his issue was. Everything looked right, so he didn’t under-wait. What? That’s not, there’s isn’t supposed to be a decimal between the 5 and 7, it’s supposed to be before the 5. Five smudged away the decimal between the 5 and 7, moving it to be in front of the 5.

“Should I- no, I’m going to try again, just a few seconds.” Five decided, waiting a few seconds for Ven to say her piece. But, when she didn’t advise  _ against _ him trying again, Five began building up his energy again, his eyes scrunched shut, the blue glowing encompassing his hands once more, and again he reached that wall again. But, rather than staying stuck behind it, he pictured himself going straight through it. He felt like he’d be thrown off his feet, his stomach dropping, and his heart leaping into his throat. Five honestly felt like he was going to vomit; which, only meant it (hopefully) worked.

Cracking his eyes open, Five narrowed in on his equation, specifically what he’d  _ just _ adjusted, and found it to be 5.7 again, and  _ not _ .57. It worked.

He was going home.


	4. Step 4 - Settle Affairs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Five needs to tie up a few loose ends, a rather important one in particular, before he can go home.

With a fixed equation, one that had been tested and proved to work, Five knew he was going home. He was going back to Vanya. But, before he  _ could _ go back, it felt wrong for him to just  _ abandon _ Ven. After everything, she’d helped him with. He’s learned to not leave anything unsaid after this whole  _ experience _ in the Apocalypse. And even though she wouldn’t actually respond to him, Five still felt he needed to tell her goodbye.

It was never easy to say goodbye. Even to a plastic mannequin.

The one time, he didn’t say goodbye, he ended up in the Apocalypse.

And he could’ve been forced to stay there  _ for years _ if it hadn’t been for Ven’s help. He could’ve been forced apart from Vanya, because of his dumbass, arrogant, egotistical self. 

The worst part was that his actions, his thoughtless actions, didn’t just affect him. They affected his team. His siblings. And worst of all, Vanya.

While he was being a little shit, thinking he was the best, the smartest in the world, and that he could do anything and everything that he ever wanted to, he abandoned Vanya without so much as a goodbye or a glance over his shoulder.

He went back on his promise to never leave without her at the drop of a hat.

God, he was the absolute worst.

But, he had time to fix it. Actually, he had all the time in the world now. 

Five and his wagon stopped just in front of a pile of rubble. The pile of rubble that he’d found Ven around. Her arm had been sticking out of the pile, and Five had only stopped and dug through the rubble  _ because _ of that arm.

For a moment in his search, when it had been about halfway through his second day in the Apocalypse, he’d seen the arm and  _ hoped _ that it was Her’s. As awful as it was to say, he’d never found any of his siblings’ bodies. Every corpse he’d come across had been charred beyond recognition, so when he saw the pale arm sticking out of the pile, he had hope. And while he’d been disappointed that Ven  _ wasn’t _ a person, wasn’t Her, he  _ was _ glad to have someone, something, to keep him sane.

Now, roughly a week after being in the Apocalypse, he’d returned to the rubble, to return Ven before going back to Vanya. Since he’d fixed and successfully tested his equation, since he’d found his way home, Ven had all but stopped talking to him. Not answering any of his questions. Not acknowledging that he’d said anything at all.

Just as he knew it was time, as did she.

“Ven,” Five started, knowing that he wouldn’t get any reply back, real  _ or _ imaginary, “I, I’ve never been good at taking help, or saying thank you. So you know how hard this is going to be for me.”

No reply.

Five carefully settled Ven onto the top of the rubble, shifting some of the rocks around so she wouldn’t move around once he left her. “Okay,” Five said, “Ven listen. I just, I need to, no, no I  _ want _ to th-thank you for everything. For helping me.” Her painted eyes looked vacantly through him. “And, I know you’re not real, and that anything between us was just all in my head, and that I was just projecting my feelings for, for Vanya onto you. But, it helped, having someone to talk to. Even if it was just to myself. So, again, I just, thank you for all your help Ven.”

Still no response.

He took a hold of the wagon once again, the wheels squeaking as it moved a bit. Five casted one last glance at Ven, told her, “Goodbye Ven.” before walking back to his base, periodically glancing back to make sure that Ven was alright until he couldn’t see her any longer. 

A short walk later, he was already back at his base, his wagon empty. No ties holding him here. And with someone  _ very important _ waiting for him back home, Five prepared himself for his biggest, and most important jump yet.

It was finally time, to go Home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

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	5. Step 5 - Back Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It may have taken him longer than he wanted. _Far longer_ , than he'd ever wanted to be away from his Home. But that didn't matter now, he was back.

Now that he’d taken care of his business with Ven, he had his equation ready to go, and the book he’d found in hand, Five was ready to go Home. He needed to go Home. He  _ needed _ to get back to Vanya. 

To  _ his _ Vanya.

He knew how much of his energy it would take to be able to make sure a long and far back jump. Especially considering he’d only done a jump a few seconds and it took far more than he thought it would have, he really only had one shot to make it back And he  _ really _ couldn’t afford to fuck up anything. 

Not when he was so close. So, achingly, close.

He’d only read a few parts of the book. Vanya’s book. He’d started on the section about him, reading about all the memories and times they’d had together  _ before _ he left, he got into a bit of the  _ time _ she wrote about  _ after  _ he left, after he  _ abandoned _ her. He only got about three and a half paragraphs into how Vanya described her internal down spiral into what sounded scarily like depression and a distancing spell from their siblings before he had to stop. And that was only within the first year of his leaving.

He feared what would’ve happened past that first year of him being gone.

With his right hand clutching the book, careful to not scrunch up the pages or roll the cover, Five surveyed the wasteland of the Apocalypse one last time before scrunching his eyes shut. His left hand curled into a fist, both hands trembling as blue energy built around his hands. Within a few seconds of just  _ starting _ to build his energy again, just to make  _ that _ jump he needed to get back, Five felt as if all his energy has getting quickly depleted.

And for a moment, just a moment, Five honestly thought he wouldn’t be able to do it. That he’d failed. And that he simply wasn't good enough, or strong enough, to get back to Vanya.

Five cracked open his eyes, his fingertips brushing across the cover and sliding along the edges of the pages, and taking a look at Vanya’s face on the front cover. She looked a few years younger than he’d last seen her, closer to about eight than thirteen. But she was still his. And He was hers. 

Forever and ever.

Until the end of time.

He’d promised her that when they were ten. And he intended to keep it. No matter what.

Just looking at a picture of her was reinvigorating, filling him with drive and determination. It felt like he’d just drank about three cups of coffee from their sneak outs to Griddy’s, just like he’d felt when he’d first discovered what he’d  _ thought _ to be his equation for time travel. He was filled with what felt like boundless and immeasurable amounts of energy. Five scrunched his eyes shut again, his thumb pressed onto the cover. It felt like his hands and his chest was just  _ burning _ with the amount of energy and  _ power _ flowing through him and building around him.

Five had to force himself to ignore and work through the burning that  _ nearly  _ got him to stop, and keep going. Slowly, very  _ very _ slowly, Five could feel himself being pulled backward. Pulled back into the seemingly endless void of time and space. It felt  _ just like _ the jumps he’d made to land  _ in  _ the Apocalypse in the first place, but so much better. Because he knew when and where he was going. He knew who he was returning to. 

In the blink of an eye, he was gone.

_ (Mere seconds before Five jumped out of the Apocalypse once and for all, a woman with silver hair, sunglasses, and a briefcase appeared just beyond a nearby mound of rocks and rubble. Unfortunately for her, she was nearer to Ven than Five, and her target slipped out of hands like a grain of sand. But, because his eyes had been closed and his heart was pounding in his chest, he’d never even noticed that there’d been another person there.) _

One moment he was in the dusty, lonely Apocalypse, with nothing but Vanya’s book and a projection of the girl he loves onto a plastic half of a mannequin, and the next, he was falling from the sky in the dead of night, from a blue light portal, into the empty courtyard of the Academy. 

He was back.

He’d made it.

There were a few moments where absolutely nothing happened. It was just him, listening to the rustling leaves around him, a dimly light Academy before him. Five took a few moments to allow his heart to steady out. Once it had, Five pushed himself to his feet, took a wobbly step towards the door. Then another. And another. Each step getting steadier and steadier as he went.

He was just in front of the door, his hand on the handle when a light inside the house flipped on. Five could faintly hear someone moving several things, likely from their storage areas to another surface. He pulled the door open slowly and quietly, just enough that he could slip in through the gap before quietly closing it behind him.

The kitchen’s light was on.

Knowing that it was  _ likely _ one of three possible candidates, Five took several steps from the courtyard’s door towards the kitchen. His dust coated shoes leaving shoeprints on the tiled floor. There were some quiet mutterings coming from the kitchen as he approached, the voice, the person talking, was one he’d missed dearly.

He was stood in the doorway, watching her make a peanut butter and marshmallow sandwich, for him, just like she’d written that she’d done every night since he’d been gone for at least that first year. Vanya hadn’t noticed him yet. He hadn’t moved since she was sprinkling the marshmallows on and squishing the other slice of bread on top until she was slicing it into two even halves. Diagonally. Just like he’d always done it.

Five took a step into the kitchen, “Vanya.” as her name fell from his lips before he’d given it a second thought. 

Her head snapped over to him. The butter knife she’d been holding dropped onto the table. He could see the glint of tears in the corners of her eyes as she looked at him. “Five?” Vanya asked, hopefulness in her voice dashed with hesitance, “Is this real? Are you back?”

She was taking steps towards him as he was taking several towards her. Five gave Vanya a nod, telling her, “I’m back.” Vanya crashed into him, her arms wrapping tightly around him. Five’s arms automatically wrapped themselves around her as he told her, “And I’m  _ never _ leaving you again.”

“Promise?” Vanya asked.

And he answered, “Promise.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

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	6. Step 6 - Five & Seven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Five and Vanya talk about some _pretty important_ things after Five's return from the Apocalypse.

Not wanting to get himself into any  _ more _ trouble or get Vanya in  _ any _ trouble, Five quickly pulled Vanya upstairs with him to his bedroom. Far enough away from the others that they wouldn’t hear them talking. Leaving the half assembled peanut butter and marshmallow sandwich on the kitchen counter. Once they’d reached his room, Five locked the door behind him and turned to face Vanya, who was still looking him over in a mix of shock and skepticism.

“What?” Five asked her, “What’s with that look?”

Vanya shook her head, casting her eyes as she replied, “Oh, um, it’s, it’s nothing.”

“Well  _ clearly _ it’s something, just tell me.” Five said, reaching one of his hands out and taking ahold of Vanya’s wrist. As he did, her head shot up, eyes locking onto his, and he could see the tears welling up in the corners seconds before they spilled down her cheeks. Without sparing a single thought, Five’s thumb was already wiping the tears from her face as he asked her, “Vanya, what’s wrong?”

“I just-” she started, cutting herself off before mumbling, “it’s nothing. Really.” before dropping her gaze to the floor again.

They both knew that she was lying. If the tears spilling over hadn’t been a dead giveaway, the sad doe eyes and the frown tugging down on her lips would’ve (or should’ve) clued him in a bit. “Vanya,” Five called, nothing. “ _ Vanya _ please talk to me.” Brown met green once more, before he added, “Truthfully.”

“I just missed you,  _ a lot _ .” Vanya confessed, speaking quickly before she could talk herself out of it, “And I, for a little bit I, I thought you might, might  _ not _ come back.”

Before she could drop her head for a third time, returning her gaze to the floor once more, Five’s hands cupped both sides of her face, keeping her gaze directed at him as he told her, “I was an idiot and dumb and selfish when I left.” Vanya gave him a look when he insulted and berated his dumber self. She’d never liked when he put himself, or anyone else, down. Even if it was true. “I was only thinking about myself and proving Dad wrong and time traveling; I hadn’t even  _ thought _ about the consequences of my dumbass-”

“Hey.” Vanya interrupted, playfully smacking one of his wrists as she gave him another look.

“Alright, alright.” Five conceded before continuing on, “When I had  _ left _ you, I didn’t think about the consequences for me, or what they would mean for you. I  _ was _ being selfish, but now, now I know better than that. It wasn’t until I’d left, that I was forced to be away from you for so long, that I realized how much you mean to me, Vanya.”

Vanya looked nervous, which was common for her, but not when she was around him, alone, before she asked, “What does that mean Five? What  _ do I _ mean to you? I’m just-”

As she’d done to him before, since Five had a  _ feeling _ as to what she’d be calling herself, he smacked her on one of her wrists and mimicked Vanya saying, “Hey.”

“Sorry.”

“Don’t apologize.” Five said, “You asked what you meant to me, Vanya. And, honestly, it’s quite simple. You’re my everything.”

Vanya half scoffed, half asked, “What?” clearly, in disbelief still.

Five repeated, “You,  _ Vanya  _ ‘Number Seven’ Hargreeves, are my everything.” as he watched Vanya’s eyes widen a bit as she  _ started _ to understand what he was telling her, Five continued, “You are the reason behind my every decision. You’re the moon to my sun. You are far more than just my best friend, and  _ definitely _ more than a sister. I, Vanya I love you.”

“You love me?” Vanya repeated, “Like, love  _ love _ me?”

“Yes Vanya,” Five answered, barely containing a laugh at her childish antics, “I love  _ love _ you. Look, I know that this is sudden and, and you probably weren’t expecting any of this but-”

Vanya, quietly, told him, “I love you too.”

It had been so quiet that Five had almost missed. Keyword, almost. But regardless, although he’d been fairly sure that he’d correctly heard what she’d said, Five asked, “What did you say?” mostly because he wanted her to say it again.

More confidently than he’d been expecting her to reply, Vanya repeated, “I love you too, Five.”


	7. Step 7 - Seven x Five

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Five and Vanya talk about some _pretty important_ things after Five's return from the Apocalypse. A bit more. And it gets _a bit_ emotional.

While before, back when Five was an immature idiot, they likely would've settled into a bit of an awkward yet comfortable silence.  _ Especially _ after a  _ confession _ or  _ proclamation _ that was a fraction of what they’d just said. But now, with his priorities reordered and corrected, rather than  _ allowing _ there to be a silence or a lull between them, Five asked Vanya, “How long was I gone?”

“A little over a year.” Vanya answered, quietly. She was avoiding looking at him.

“That long?” Five questioned, for him, it hadn’t been  _ as _ long of a time.

Vanya nodded, a questioning look crossing her features before she asked him, “How long was it for you?”

About a month, maybe two. He hadn’t paid it much mind. Far more focused on getting  _ back  _ as fast as possible than how  _ long _ he was there. “Um, it was, about, about a year.” Five lied, as much as it pained him to do so. But, he couldn’t admit to her, much less himself, that she’d been without him for longer than he’d been without her. “I’m not sure exactly, I wasn’t really keeping track. I was just trying to get back, to you.”

“To me?” Vanya repeated.

“I only came back for you Vanya.” Five told her.

Five watched with a fair bit of amusement as a deep shade of pink danced across Vanya’s cheeks at his second confession of the night, or was it three? Vanya had  _ never  _ liked, more so gotten  _ used _ to, being the recipient of  _ any _ attention, much less positive or loving attention. After a moment or two, after waiting for the pink burning her cheeks to lessen a bit, Vanya asked, “What does, does  _ this _ have any, any meaning Five? Is there, is there anything going to  _ change _ after this? Or are we, are you going to act like how it was before?”

No. There was  _ no possible way _ for things to be like they’d been before. Especially after tonight.

“What? No! No way Vanya.” Five answered, “There’s, I mean, it’s, things will  _ only  _ change if you-”

“It’s okay Five.” Vanya cut in, her eyes trained on the floor once more, and he could  _ hear _ the hurt she was trying to hide in her voice.  _ Clearly, _ he’d fucked up. Already. “You don’t need to, to just- You can just tell me the  _ truth _ Five. I’ll just, I’ll lea-give you some space. Since you  _ just _ got back you probably want some, some time alone.”

She was already at the door, the hinges squeaking a bit as she opened it before Five moved. And by move he, of course, jumped from the middle of his bedroom to the door, pushing it shut  _ before _ Vanya walked out. “No, Vanya, wait. Just, listen to me. Please.” Five pleaded, and once Vanya was at least looking  _ towards  _ him, even if she wouldn’t look him in the eye, he continued, “I, I  _ want _ no  _ need _ there to be something, a, a  _ change _ between us. Vanya, I love you too much to let there be nothing more between us than being  _ just _ best friends.”

“What are you saying Five?” Vanya asked, eyes darting up to look him in his eyes before dropping back to his dirt covered shoes.

“I’m  _ saying _ Vanya, that, if you want to be, I’d like for you to be my  _ girlfriend  _ and my best friend.” Five said, “So, in a much better way to phrase that, Vanya Hargreeves, would you do  _ me _ the honor of being my girlfriend?”

Vanya, rather than answering his question-proposal thing right away, instead replied with, “You’re a dork, you know that right?”

“True,” Five agreed, “but, I’m  _ your  _ dork. Right?”

“Right.” Vanya repeated, “You’re  _ my _ dork.”


End file.
